itsjustagamerp | It's about time, it's about space

Entry tags:

It's about time, it's about space

Characters: Sora, Ventus, Roxas, potentially open to others who want to investigate
Content: A couple of people finally decide to check out the ship's time machine...
Location: The Launch Deck
Time of Day: Midday
Warnings: Potential shenanigans?!

[Just a couple of other characters can join in with Sora, Roxas and Ven, but please not too many so that the thread won't get too crowded and can actually move forward. This may split into multiple threads at some point.]

Sora had meant to do this before, but since discussing it with some of his friends, a whole bunch of stuff had come up that made it difficult to get down to it...turning into ponies, dealing with that dragon-horse guy, singing, and having another experiment to do. Even now, they were dealing with this sudden change to their bodies and voices (which still didn't make much sense to Sora). But, he figured now was as good a time as any to check out the time machine. Besides, with a bunch of them being older, maybe this was the fault of the time machine.

So, once Sora had found Roxas and Ventus, he headed down with the two to the launch deck. He noticed the time machine on one far end of the deck; a strange, dark-gray machine with a series of buttons, pipes, and a single heavy door.

"Okay, let's see if we can figure this thing out..."

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Perry had watched as Ven, Sora, and Roxas wandered past and towards the Launch deck. He was still getting used to the fact that everyone appeared to be older now and yet still acting the same. It was a little weird, but, honestly, not much weirder than anything else that happened.

Curious about what the three were up to, however, Perry picked himself up and shuffled behind them. Doof hadn't been up to anything lately and Phineas had been oddly quiet, so Perry had to get his entertainment somehow.

He stopped when they reached the machine, one eye on the machine and another in Sora's direction. Now, what was this thing? It didn't look space related.

For his part, Ven had noticed the machine when he and Sora were up to their tricks as pegasi, but since it hadn't been a piece of machinery they could move he'd put it out of his mind. Knowing that it was the time machine made him wish he'd paid more attention to it then - he could've flown up to inspect it from the top at that point, whereas now they were all stuck on the ground.

Granted, they were at least significantly taller than they were, which was pretty awesome. Even with some of them having really silly hairstyles, Ven was not at all objecting to finally being the height he'd wanted to be since Terra finished his own growth spurt. Granted he wasn't quite as tall as Terra - but he could still look him in the eye for the first time ever. Good enough.

Ven crouched in front of the door, putting a hand on it to see if he could budge it and eventually pulling it back when he couldn't do anything to it. "Looks like you're maybe supposed to put something in there, but it's locked."

Roxas was looking at some of the pipes and buttons on the machine, thinking. It was tempting to press a couple of the buttons and see what, if anything, that did. But that might be asking for trouble.

"How do we know it's a time machine anyway?"

Having gone on his own personal tour of the station, Ratchet couldn't help but pause at the sight of a small crowd gathering in one room. And if it had to do with machinery? His interest was already piqued.

He never remembered passing by this room before, and he half-wondered if any of them were meant to. It certainly looked important enough, and there had been that warning from one of the others of a chain reaction, had he muddled around with the wrong thing.

The Lombax kept to the doorway, peering over the edge slightly, and remembered to mind his tongue. If this was private, he wanted to be able to make a swift getaway if he was spotted.

Sora didn't notice Ratchet's approach at first since he was keeping to the deck's entrance, but he did see Perry walk up behind them. He smiled down at the platypus, not figuring that he'd be any bother to them. It wasn't like platypuses did that much anyway. "Oh, hey there, Perry!"

Sora attempted to open the door as well, but it definitely wasn't yielding. There wasn't a key or combination lock on it, so he couldn't tell if it was just stuck or locked from the inside. "Yeah, looks like one or two people could fit inside...but how to open it?"

He turned back to Roxas. "I think Gypsy mentioned that once over the Cambots."

Perry, acknowledged, kept to his spot. He didn't mind continuing the illusion that he "didn't do much" for a little while longer. But even so he couldn't help but be curious as to what the heck this was. A time machine? Really?

He was a little skeptical but, well, if Doof could make an Otherdimensionator then a time machine could happen.

"Maybe if we tried it together?" Ven reached out to grab the handle in both hands, sinking back on his heels and digging in for support while he pulled on the door with his full weight. It... didn't seem to be doing anything, but if one or both of the other heartderps joined in, maybe it'd work.

Roxas was still studying the control panel when Ven started pulling on the door. He watched a moment, mildly concerned.

"Do you really think forcing it is a good idea?" Because he really didn't, which was why he wasn't going to be helping with the pulling. Seriously, if it really was a time machine, there was a good chance screwing around with it could plop them into some other era altogether or worse, take them back to a time before the satellite existed. That was a lethal possibility if it also kept them in the same spot otherwise...

While everyone else was suitably distracted, Ratchet took it as his chance to move in closer, keeping to the shadows, so to speak, and keeping a careful eye that anything did break on whatever this doohickey was.

A... time machine, they said? Weird. And maybe kind of... useful.

But the Lombax was also very mechanically inclined, and he knew from experience that forcefully tearing a big piece of machinery open like that was not the best approach. Too many holes in his garage, plus Clank's lectures about crossing ion ducts in an enclosed area taught him that much.

So he stood up from his hiding spot, twisting his mouth in a concerned frown, then finally decided to speak out.

"I... wouldn't do that if I were you."

"We can try..."

Being careful not to step backwards onto Perry (he was still getting used to his sense of space when he was taller), he tried to help Ven force the door open...it creaked and popped a little bit, but still didn't budge. "Well, I dunno if we can force it..." Even with their combined strength, it didn't seem to really be giving.

Sora jumped a bit when Ratchet stole up behind them, and turned to face him. "Huh? Why not?"

Perry was good about staying out of the way. He couldn't exactly HELP force open a time machine without exposing himself, but if this somehow activated it he didn't want the boys caught without him.

The platypus lingers, one eye rolling in Ratchet's direction as he approached. Well, good, maybe HE could help keep the boys out of trouble. The last thing Perry wanted was the boys to start time traveling and do something that would result in evil ruling the world...or something ridiculous like that.

The good news was, if these three boys started time traveling, they'd eradicate all the evil they could find.

...If they didn't get themselves killed, first. Beside the point!

Ven gave up on the door before Sora; he wasn't nearly as impulsive as the brunet, and the popping wasn't a good sign. Creaking, okay, but metal popping? Nope. He'd pushed himself to his feet and was about to open his mouth to say something else when... well, a new voice interrupted the proceedings.

And all three of them were used to people looking not like people, so Ratchet didn't even make him blink. "I don't think we can do it - whatever opens that door, it's sealed up pretty tight. Maybe there's some sort of instruction manual around somewhere?"

...They probably should have looked for that first. Whoops.

"Now you think of this?" Roxas asked, incredulous. Not that he had any room to talk, since he hadn't thought of it either.

He's not really fazed by Ratchet's presence either other than wondering why he'd hung back until now, but he's got more important things on his mind... like deciding whether or not he wants to still be here when and if they get the damned thing working.

Yep. If Clank had been here, they'd all be getting a nerd-fit right about now.

"So lemme get this straight," The Lombax started carefully. "You find a machine you'd never seen before, not knowing who made it or what it even does, and your first instinct is to crack it open like a Drophyd's skull?" Okay, so he was being a teeny bit hypocritical. But even he knew better to figure out how something worked before tearing it into oblivion.

"You've been here for how long and this ship's still standing?"

When it was clear the door wasn't budging, Sora backed off too, shaking out his hand. "I haven't seen any manual around..." he replied to Ven.

"I've seen this thing around before! And it's a time machine, so obviously it sends you back in time," he said, glancing back at Ratchet. A magic time door would be a whole lot simpler, but Sora figured it was still the same basic principle.

However, Sora frowned at that last bit. "I know my way around spaceships fine, thanks," he retorted. He wasn't stupid. True, it was Chip and Dale who did most of the actual maintenance on the gummi ship, but he at least knew how to fly those things.

Perry mentally chuckled as the boys were berated by the cat-like creature. Phineas would have figured out how to crack this open by now AND how to work it. Although, it did seem odd that there wasn't a manual around here.

Perry took the opportunity of their distraction by Ratchet to start wandering around the time machine. He was smaller, closer to the ground. Maybe he could peek under or see something on the ground that they had missed.

And then perhaps check it out for himself to make sure the boys weren't going to destroy the time/space continuum just by turning this machine on.

"You didn't think of it either," Ven countered Roxas, but he had the decency to turn just a tad red at Ratchet's berating. Yeah, maybe they hadn't acted the smartest of anyone around so far, but they hadn't done anything too stupid, either.

"None of us were going to press any buttons or anything until we knew what it did. We just wanted to open the door, but that doesn't look like it's possible.."

"I also wasn't trying to force the door open without knowing whether or not forcing it would be a problem." Roxas's tone was more exasperated than actually angry.

He turned to Ratchet, eyeing the... whatever he was... for a moment. It sounded as though he spoke from experience on messing with things he shouldn't have been messing with.

"I'm more concerned with why there's a time machine here to begin with and who planned to use it for what purpose."

"The blonde kid's got a point. We don't even know why it's here in the first place?" Ratchet kept his eye on Sora, who seemed to be the most gung-ho on exploring what was inside. "You never know - you open that thing, and we're all sitting around eating nothing but applesauce and watching really bad holo-operas for the next three weeks."

Stepping forward more, the Lombax used his still-small stature to his advantage, moving around on the opposite side of the machine to get a better inspection of how it worked. He'd seen a lot of weird things on spaceships before, but a time machine was not one of them.

...whatever it does, maybe it can help find Clank.

(Or the Lombaxe--) That thought was better left un-thought.

He started feeling around, looking for a pressure sensor or a hidden switch, or... something. Any kind of tactic that didn't involve breaking it.

"There's also a pool and a library and a forest on this ship. Why is any of this stuff here?" Sora said with a shrug. True, it was strange, but when it came to this satellite, Sora didn't see much point in debating the hows and whys of it. All that really mattered was whether they could get it to work in their favor.

He really didn't get what Ratchet was talking about with applesauce and...whatever, but he decided not to comment on it any. But then he started investigating the machine itself, apparently feeling for something.

Well, maybe he at least had a better understanding of how an actual time machine would work, as opposed to just a time door. "What're you looking for?"

Perry made sure no one was giving him a second glance and then he wiggled under the time machine. It wasn't difficult and it didn't take a genius to see the problem.

Wires were hanging down and some of them looked disconnected. Perry glanced over his shoulder and then back at the connectors. He had to be quick about this. His expression going from derp to serious, Perry twisted onto his back and started plugging things in.

He may not have been Doof or Phineas, but he had been around both geniuses to know how these sorts of things were supposed to go. Heck, he had even assisted Doof a few times in some of his -inators. A time machine wasn't THAT big of a deal really.

In no time flat he had plugged in the lose wires and even untangled a few that had gotten loose and twisted together. He wiped a paw across his brow and then quickly wiggled back out. He wondered if that would do anything.

Ven saw a flash of green out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look for it, it was gone. Shrugging a little, he turned back to the gathering in front of him, where three guys were getting chewed out by a... tiny cat-fox person.

"This place doesn't make any sense, but we know not to push any buttons or anything until we know what something does." Or at least, he and Roxas knew. Sora, maybe not so much. "Can you see anything over there?"

Roxas might have commented on not being so sure about Sora knowing not to touch anything, but he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the indignant whining the remark would bring, so he kept it to himself. Instead, he busied himself with looking over the machine more when it occurred to him that maybe looking under it might not be a bad idea.

He was a little bit surprised, for lack of a better term, to find Perry under the machine, reconnecting some disconnected wires. He stared for a moment and was still staring when Perry moved to wiggle out from under the machine. It wasn't that hyper competent animals were surprising to him. He knew a few of them. But he hadn't really been expecting that of Phineas's pet platypus.

"Okay, so we officially have no normal animals on this satellite."

It didn't occur to him that part of the reason he was only just finding this out was that Perry was doing his best to keep it a secret, otherwise he wouldn't have commented possibly loud enough for anyone else to hear him...

"Hang on," He calls back to Sora, not even having heard the other's former retort.

When he got into a project, really focused on something, it was near-impossible to snap the Lombax out of it. Eventually, he comes across what seems to be a panel of some sort, flipping it open, an already starting to make a few adjustments.

"I think this port runs the whole thing, but it's not like anything I've ever worked on before. Can you guys see any other buttons from there? A-a switch, or something? I can try to work with it, but I'm gonna need some help."

"Huuh?" Sora glanced on the other side of the machine, only to notice Perry crawling out from underneath it. Had he actually been doing something under there? Sora had been under the impression that Perry was just a platypus, and wasn't intelligent like the ponies or the wolves. If he was, why hadn't they noticed until now? He leaned down a bit, looking towards Perry. "Perry, what were you doing?"

He turned back to Ratchet. "We'll look around...there's probably a few other things on here." If Perry had been messing around under the machine, then there were at least some things towards the bottom, too.

He could practically hear Candice's voice shouting BUST-ED. Ugh. Why did this always seem to happen up here anyway? He had gotten by for practically FIVE YEARS without the Flynn-Fletchers EVER catching on and yet people here seemed to pick up on his behavior every time he turned around.

Maybe other universes were just more observant. Perry knew there was no way around it either, considering he'd practically made eye contact with Roxas when the boy spotted him. He sighed, he had been certain that none of them would miss him but so much for that. He gave Roxas his best "you just had to go and say something" look before rejoining the others.

To be fair, at least Perry looked a little sheepish when Sora asked him that. Perry pulled on his agent hat and gestured under the machine, miming that he had been fixing some wires that were under there. He then adjusted his hat and handed Roxas a couple of drawings. Perry had learned by now to keep such things on hand...just in case.

The drawings were pretty good and would explain the whole "not a normal platypus, trying to maintain a secret identity, don't tell Phineas or I never get to see him again, keep your mouths shut" situation. While Roxas (and probably Sora and Ven) looked over those, Perry headed over to the cat-person. Might as well help since he had more technological know-how than all three of the other boys combined.

He looked up at the strange creature, his eyes conveying the age old question: Can I help?

"No normal animals? Roxas, what's-" And Ven was cut short by the sight of a greet platypus wriggling out from under the machine. He didn't have as much interaction with Perry as most of the rest of them did, but he'd seen the platypus around sometimes, and nothing had ever struck him as out of the ordinary with him. But seeing him stand up and pull on a little hat... well, that was a whole 'nother manner, and Ven couldn't help but watch him.

"Huh... He's like Jaq, then. Or even Mickey, just smaller. Hey, can you talk?" But pictures were produced and Ven did indeed peer over Roxas' shoulder to look at them. Still, pictures weren't words and Ven started to piece what they were trying to convey together. "Okay... so somehow other people aren't supposed to know about him, especially this guy..."

Okay, the hat and the whole explanation pointed out via pictures were definitely not expected. A platypus with a secret identity... Weird, but not the weirdest thing Roxas had ever dealt with and he understood how some secrets were important. He wasn't quite sure he understood how Phineas finding out could be a problem, but if it was important that he didn't find out, Roxas had no problem keeping that secret.

"I think if he could talk, the pictures wouldn't be necessary."

When only Sora responded to his question, Ratchet pulled his head out of the machine a moment to glance behind him, wondering what had gotten the others so distracted. "Hey, aren't we supposed to be fixing th--"

He stopped.

And stared.

Because the platypus from before was now on two feet, wearing a little hat and drawing pictures.

The Lombax blinked, rubbed his eyes and shook his head, but the sight still remained. He wasn't hallucinating - and if it was, it had been a damn good one - and he can only continue to stare when the little guy jumped up next to him, giving him one of those looks Clank did when he wanted to help with a project.

"You help us out, I keep your secret. How 'bout that, pal?"

Of course, he'd keep the secret anyway. It just sounded better like this.

Sora leaned over Roxas's shoulder as well to check out the drawings that Perry had given him. Well, apparently he couldn't talk, or he would've done so after putting on that hat. He definitely had more intelligence than just a normal animal. He noticed the picture had Phineas in it, and seemed to indicate they'd have to be separated.

"I guess it's like a secret identity...and if Phineas finds out, he'll be in trouble and won't be able to stay with him anymore." The drawing Perry had done definitely had him looking sad in that last part.

And now that he was thinking about it, Perry was not only intelligent, but intelligent enough to actually try and fix this machine. And now he wanted to try and help Ratchet. Sora glanced back towards Perry, one eyebrow raised. "You fixed this? Man, just how smart are you?"

Well, at least he hadn't raised any suspicion until now. Though at least the boys weren't as bothered by his hiding this as Phineas had been (not that Phineas remembered). He figured the talking thing was self-explanatory though so didn't even bother addressing that question. He had his own methods of communication after all. Roxas got it at least.

What baffled him was the alien cat things reaction. Honestly the humans were handling it better than he was and he was an ALIEN. You'd think aliens would be a bit more accepting of such oddness. But, well, go figure. Perry nods, taking this exchange seriously. He has a feeling the cat-thing would keep it anyway, but if that's how he wants to play it. Perry picked up a nearby wrench and started tinkering with a different section of the time machine. He'd already fixed the wiring so it shouldn't be too much trouble to figure out what else might be wrong with this thing.

Perry paused in his work, looking up at Sora, nodding to affirm that yes, if it ever got back that people knew of his secret identity, he'd be forced to relocate. Obviously he wasn't as concerned about it as he once had been. Being stuck in space would do that to a guy. But, still, old habits are hard to break, especially one like this. Plus, he really didn't feel like going through the anxiety that his first betrayal of Phineas had caused during the dimension hopping fiasco.

Perry wasn't quite sure how to respond to the question of his intelligence. The only way to really answer that was to fix the stupid thing now wasn't it. He waved it off. Not important right now Sora.

"He could speak a different language or have a really thick accent. Jaq has one of those, it'd probably be easier for him to draw pictures sometimes." There were reasons why picture-drawing didn't necessarily exclude talking, but it was true, as long as Perry could get his message across, it wasn't really a big deal.

And Perry? These boys were just weird.

"Smart enough. None of us are mechanics, after all." And it was clear Perry had some of those skills. Ven just let the two of them do their thing, since they really were less likely to blow the thing up.

At least, until something else occurred to him, something that could potentially be a bad sign... "You know... Gypsy can fix everything around here. Why didn't she fix this?"

Roxas had been about to ask who Jaq was when Ven brought up the topic of why Gypsy hadn't fixed the time machine. Thinking on it, it certainly did seem odd that she wouldn't fix this. Unless there was a very good reason for it.

"Good question. It could be that she had some more important things to take care of... or something."

After all the things Sora had seen, and considering the fact that his usual traveling partners were a duck and a dog, an intelligent platypus that could be a secret agent didn't seem any weirder. And Roxas and Ven were in similar situations to him.

"Ohh..." Sora mused, thinking over Perry's reaction. It was obvious that this was important to him. "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone!"

As Ratchet and Perry worked on the machine, Sora thought over Ven's question. "Yeah, that is a good question. Maybe she just forgot about it? She's gotta take care of everything, so she probably just never got around to it with everything going on around here." And compared to stuff like their air and food and gravity, the time machine probably didn't seem as important to her...

Glad that he had more people in support of keeping his secret Perry let out a pleased platypus chatter sound. He was finding that there were a lot of people up here he could count on and that made things easier. Of course, it also had the opposite effect of making him feel guilty for continuing to keep it from Phineas. How long had he been up here and was it worth continuing to hold his secret identity? This wasn't a normal situation.

Of course, working on a time machine was not the time to be dwelling on such things. He could think about it later.

It helped that a lot of people on the Satellite just had weirder things going on in their lives than Secret Agent Platypi. Or at least on the same level. The weird is no longer weird when you see it every day, after all.

"Maybe she forgot about it, but what if it was disconnected because it's malfunctioning or something? We can't heal anymore, if that thing blows up I don't want to be caught in it."

"Yeah, we could be taking a risk fiddling with this thing," Roxas commented, watching Ratchet and Perry tinker with it, "But, it could also be a risk worth taking. Maybe we can find some way to get off this satellite... or maybe just make things better for ourselves here."

Not that Roxas had any idea how they could make things better for themselves, but it was an idea. How it could possibly get them off the satellite was a more important topic, though. On the other hand, there had been a reason it bugged him that everyone was from different points in time. It was for this same reason that he was very reluctant to tell Xion what had sprung up in his memory. Of everyone from his own world, Roxas was the furthest ahead in time. He knew a few things about everyone that hadn't happened to any of them yet in the times they'd come from. So really, despite his words, he was a little torn on the idea of actually using the time machine, even if it could only take them to the past of the world they were in.

"Alright! I think that should do it." Ratchet suddenly burst out, closing the panel and stepping back from the machine to look over their work. "At least, I hope so. There's still no telling what this thing's capable of."

And he was still a little worried about how things would turn out. Not that any of them did something wrong - of course not; this kind of technology was as primitive as they got - but how it even operated, if it really was a time machine in itself.

The Lombax folded his arms over his chest, glancing back to the group behind them.

"Anybody brave enough to give it a go?"

Sora felt he was used to risk-taking...although not being able to cure was a detriment, what with the way Riku had taken a long time to recover from the shade fights. Still, the risk seemed worth it if it could lead to something better for them.

"Wow, you two fixed it fast," Sora remarked. He stared down at the panel as Ratchet closed it, then back at the machine's small door. "I dunno...where'd be a good place to go?"

Perry nodded at Ratchet's statement. If he was looking at it right and Ratchet's know-how was right then for all intents and purposes they SHOULD have a working time machine now. He shrugged, there was really only one way to TELL if it was working and that was to use it.

The platypus was about to step forward and volunteer for testing but Sora was a bit quicker on the draw. These boys were larger, sure, but as Ven had said, they were without their powers. Perry at least hadn't suffered from that. He was NATURALLY capable of kicking butt. He looked up at the boy with worry. Something could happen and would he even be able to defend himself.

Maybe he could think of a good time to go to and then he wouldn't feel as worried. Ah! He knew what might be good for testing and wouldn't be dangerous at all. Good thing he paid attention when Ferb and Phineas talked about these things. Perry reached up into his hat and pulled out a small notebook jotting down a time and location.

[December 17, 1903. Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina] He ripped the page out and handed it to Sora.

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It's about time, it's about space

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/was getting Erica's go-ahead for moving ahead with the machine first

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